Distortion 11: "Parents are
often unaware that today's marijuana is different from that
of a generation ago, with potency levels 10 to 20 times stronger
than the marijuana with which they were familiar."
US Drug Czar John Walters,
"The Myth of 'Harmless'
Marijuana," Washington Post, May 1, 2002, p. A25.

False.

Federal research shows that the average potency of
cannabis in the US has increased very little.
According to the federal Potency Monitoring Project, in 1985,
the average THC content of commercial-grade marijuana was 2.84%,
and the average for high-grade sinsemilla in 1985 was 7.17%. In
1995, the potency of commercial-grade marijuana averaged 3.73%,
while the potency of sinsemilla in 1995 averaged 7.51%. In 2001,
commercial-grade marijuana averaged 4.72% THC, and the potency
of sinsemilla in 2001 averaged 9.03%.
Source: Quarterly Report #76, Nov. 9, 2001-Feb. 8, 2002,
Table 3, p. 8, University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring
Project (Oxford, MS: National Center for the Development of Natural
Products, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2002),
Mahmoud A. ElSohly, PhD, Director, NIDA Marijuana Project (NIDA
Contract #N01DA-0-7707).

Even the Drug Enforcement Administration concedes (
"Drug Intelligence Brief: The Cannabis Situation in the
United States, December 1999") that
"According to University of Mississippi analyses, the
THC content of commercial-grade marijuana has risen slowly over
the years from an average of 3.71 percent in 1985 to an average of
5.57 percent in 1998. These analyses also show a corresponding rise in
sinsemilla THC content from 7.28 percent in 1985 to 12.32 percent
in 1998."
More recently, the US National Drug Intelligence
Center's "National Drug Threat Assessment 2002 "
report, released December 2001, stated that
"Overall, potency, as characterized by THC content, is still
increasing. According to data from the Potency Monitoring Project,
the THC content of commercial-grade marijuana increased from 1997
to 2000 for commercial-grade (4.25% to 4.92%)
and for sinsemilla (11.62% to 13.20%)."

As noted by the DEA,
"The Cannabis Potency Monitoring Project, sponsored by
the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and
conducted by the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical
Sciences at the University of Mississippi, is the indicator
program that tracks changes in the delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC) content (the potency) of cannabis
(marijuana, hashish, and hashish oil) seized in the
United States. THC, one of the 61 cannabinoids among more than
400 compounds found in the cannabis plant, is the principal
psychoactive component in the plant. Potency is expressed
as the percentage of THC per dry weight of plant material."
The following table is taken directly from the DEA website,
last accessed May 5, 2002.

Average THC Content of Marijuana

percent

1985

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

Commercial

3.71

3.97

4.52

4.25

4.19

4.77

5.56

5.57

Sinsemilla

7.28

8.57

5.77

7.49

7.51

9.23

11.55

12.32

Source: Potency Monitoring Program, University of Mississippi,
June 30, 1999.